Archive

January 27th, 2015

Estrella War is near, and we are looking for those who are willing to assist in keeping our event safe. If you are a warranted Chirurgeon within your Kingdom and are interested in volunteering at either Chirurgeon Point or during Battles, please contact Lady Rowan.

The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is seeking candidates for the position of Society Chronicler. The Interim Society Chronicler’s warrant ends in August 2015. In order to ensure a smooth transition, applications for the position of Society Chronicler are now being accepted.

January 22nd

The fighting in Iraq continues to threaten, not just the populace, but historical treasures and manuscripts. Recently a Dominican Order of priests, known as the Order of Preachers, managed to rescue a number of these precious documents when Islamic State jihadists advanced into the region. (photos)

January 17th

Do you remember why you joined the SCA? If you don't, or need to remember why you are still a member, watch For Glory & Honor: Medieval Reenactors Go To Battle, an NBC News feature showcasing the SCA at the Pennsic War. (video)

Archaeologist Anna Ihr's doctoral dissertation, Becoming Vitrified, shows that the glass industry in Sweden is much older than previously believed, as early as the 13th century. The thesis describes how different vitrified, or glassy, materials can be interpreted and analysed.

January 13th

The 8th century, Old English poem called The Ruin may be the oldest surviving literature to mention Stonehenge, says medieval liguist Dr Graeme Davis. The poem refers to stones called "the old ones" or the "elders."

January 9th

“Send me a shirt, towel, trousers, reins, and, for my sister, send fabric. If I am alive, I will pay for it,” wrote a 14th century father, Onus, to his son, Danilo, in the block letters of Old Novgorod language on a birch bark scroll. The note, among a dozen others, was discovered recently in the "magicial mud" of Veliky Novgorod, Russia.

January 8th

Gold was believed to have magical powers in Anglo-Saxon society, which may have led to discovery of special processes to make the metal appear "more golden than gold." These findings are part of a new study of the Staffordshire Hoard which "showed goldsmiths knew how to remove alloyed metals such as copper and silver from the surface of objects."

January 7th

As the reburial of King Richard III approaches, the city of Leicester, England and Leicester Cathedral prepare for the festivities by calling on the locals to help with fundraising. The diocese has raised only UK£1.9m of the £2.5m cost of the celebration.

January 5th

September 2014 was a great month for British metal detector enthusiast Derek McLennan. The retired businessman discovered "one of the most important Viking hoards ever found in Scotland" in a field in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. (photos)

January 4th

In early medieval Italy, "burying the dead facedown was a way to prevent the impure soul threatening the living,” says anthropologist Elena Dellù. This might explain the remains of a teenage girl discovered recently at the complex of San Calocero in Albenga, Italy. (photo)

January 3rd

A team of archaeologists from AOC Archaeology Group, along with members of the community, were intrigued by discoveries resulting from two weeks of excavations near York, England's Guildhall. The workers found artifacts dating from Roman times through World War II, including evidence of a medieval friary.

January 2nd

According to Wikipedia, Lavenham, England "is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England noted for its 15th-century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walk." Now the town's business forum and parish council plan to apply to UNESCO for a World Heritage grant to "help balance tourism, the local economy and traffic." (photos)

Dr Carenza Lewis is well known to audeinces of Channel 4’s Time Team and the BBC’s The Great British Story, but now she has a different role: leading members of the community of Sudbury on an archaeological survey. Lewis heads up the "big dig" organized by the Sudbury Society, the Sudbury History Society, and the Sudbury Museum Trust.

December 31st, 2014

Richard III died before the Reformation, but Leicester Cathedral, where the king will be buried, is staunchly Anglican, facts which should have produced strife. The funeral of a king, however, has brought the two faiths together to offer Richard III a burial "with the dignity befitting his rank."

Master Yehudah nagid ben Yitzhak, Minister of Protocol, reports that at Their Feast of St. Maurus. Their Majesties Vladimir and Petranella of the Kingdom of Northshield placed Peter Joyner (fka Petro Petrovitch) on vigil to contemplate elevation to the Order of the Chivalry.

December 30th

Twice in seven years, 1274 and 1281, the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan tried to invade Japan. On one of those missions a ship sank in a typhoon off the island of Takashima. Now arhaeologists hope to learn the secrets of the Mongol warship from the recently-discovered wreck.